C. Monckton: Complaints and Critiques

Tim Lambert at Deltoid offers a cursory scientific critique of Chris Walter (the Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley)'s recent newsletter submission to the American Physical Society. Lambert apologizes that he has only first-year physics, but notes, rightfully, that Monckton can make no such claim.

Even more entertaining is the shirty letter that Monckton himself penned to the APS after they added a note to his article making it clear that it was NOT peer reviewed and that it does NOT reflect the opinion of Editors or, really, of any good physicists of note.

Monckton, who apparently can't tell the difference between being edited and submitting a scientific paper for peer review, is spitting mad. It's wonderful.

(Thanks to John Mashey for turning this stuff up.)

But here's a question. Why would ANY publication of the American Physical Society solicit an article from someone who is not physicist, not a scientist, who has not even got an undergraduate degree in any scientific field, who regularly shills for a host of oily think tanks spending Exxon's money on climate change denial and who, seriously, can't be trusted to report accurately on his own resume? Really, why? Was there not a single practicing scientist in the world who might have submitted a paper suggesting that a legitimate climate science debate still reigns?

Comments

“BTW, while Monckton claims there was a `peer review’ by one editor, it couldn’t have been much of one since editor (Al Saperstein) has never done any work remotely connected to climate science. Even Monckton’s description of the `review’ makes it sound more like an effort to make sure that the contents were clearly stated.”

This guy is so far beyond the pale he must be something out of a Monty Python sketch – either the “Upper Class Twit of the Year Competition”, or “Spot the Loony”. I think the word I am looking for is probably delusional.

Despite his howling lack of introspection, Monckton actually serves a purpose as a good example of the type of denier that was called to mind earlier today when I read a response to Wilbert Robichaud on another thread. The response concluded “You can do better than this”. Well … maybe not. We can’t assume that everyone who posts here has got a mental capacity sufficient to grasp the concepts. Some people simply will not be able to comprehend the science, although, as Monckton so gloriously proves, they will continue to mash about in the numbers and create mayhem along the way.

Here we have a man who figures that retired scientists are the only ones free of influence, able to say what they really think. The fact that these folks have been out of the lab for 10 or 15 years and aren’t on the leading edge of anything anymore just whips past over his head.

"Fossil-fuel companies have spent millions funding anti-global-warming think tanks, purposely creating a climate of doubt around the science. DeSmogBlog is the antidote to that obfuscation." ~ BRYAN WALSH, TIME MAGAZINE